Government White Paper – Planning for the Future
As we go to print, the Strategic Planning Manager for Spelthorne Council is await-ing the outcome of the Government’s cur-rent consultation on the Planning for the Future white paper and whether it will introduce changes that affect our Local Plan in relation to Green Belt and other proposals put forward.
The Government’s proposals have attract-ed a great deal of heated debate with many of its own backbenchers threatening revolt believing, as they do, that the algo-rithms used for deciding which constitu-encies should carry the heaviest loads are deeply flawed. The national print media have devoted many column inches to the subject.
Nevertheless, it’s worth taking a moment to imagine how the white paper might affect Spelthorne if it should go through unamended; and one of our Committee members, Chris Hyde, has made the fol-lowing observation when commenting on the Stratton Road Facebook page:
“This Summer, the Government consulted on changes to the current planning system including changes to the standard method for assessing housing need. Lichfields, the planning consultancy which advised the government on the new housing need method, has compared the results of the new method with the current method for each local authority. For Spelthorne, the annual housing need requirement reduces from 606 to 489 homes per year, which means 1755 less homes over the 15 year period of the new Local Plan. In docu-ments supporting the consultation for the new Local Plan, Spelthorne Borough Council said that 1649 homes would need to be accommo-dated on Green Belt. On the basis of the new housing need method, there is now no need to build on any Green Belt in Spelthorne.”
It looks as if many entities and political parties will be taking credit for progress on this vital issue. Politicians realise that GB destruction is hardly a vote winner.
Stratton Road looks set to escape the axe…again. This is good news though we must be mindful of other sites still slated for property development. All citizens located around Stratton Road May breathe a sigh of relief for the next 5 years but the long term future of GB is still unclear. We must all recognise that our site [Stratton Road] should be treated in the same way as any other GB site. We must be fair and compassionate in our rejection of any GB development. It is not necessary.”
Needless to say, we anxiously await the eventual outcome of the ‘Planning for the Future’ consultation.